Hezbollah vows to ‘uniquely punish’ Israel after second wave of booby traps

Hezbollah has vowed Israel will be “uniquely punished” after a second wave of explosive booby fire traps struck the terror group across Lebanon.

“Revenge is inevitable,” a senior Hezbollah official said after at least 20 people were killed and 450 more injured in Wednesday’s attack, which saw walkie-talkies explode across Beirut and throughout the country.

“We will confront the enemy with a new approach so that they know we are a people who will not retreat,” said Seyed Hashem Safiuddin, without providing any details. “The resistance tells Netanyahu that we are present and our capabilities remain unharmed,” he added.

It comes after Israel said it was preparing to enter a “new phase of war” which involves a greater focus on the north near its border with Lebanon.

Yoav Gallant, Israel’s defence minister, said the military’s “resources and forces” are being diverted away from Gaza to the north.

“We are at the onset of a new phase in the war, it requires courage, determination and perseverance from us,” Mr Gallant said without referencing the two consecutive days of handheld devices exploding across Lebanon.

Wednesday’s wave of explosions followed a similar attack on Tuesday which saw pagers explode across the country, killing at least 12 people and injuring thousands more.

Israel is yet to comment on allegations that it is behind the attacks.

The country’s military did, however, say that Israeli fighter jets struck several buildings in southern Lebanon on Wednesday.

The IDF said the airstrikes targeted a rocket launcher and other buildings used by Hezbollah.

More than 40 rockets were launched from Lebanon at northern Israel, the IDF added.

08:56 PM BST

That’s all for today

Thanks for following our live coverage.

08:09 PM BST

Pictured: defence minister briefs troops in northern Israel

Yoav Gallant, Israel’s defence minister, brief troops earlier on Wednesday about plans to shift focus towards the north of the country, near the border with Lebanon.

07:50 PM BST

No10: attacks ‘deeply concerning’

The situation in Lebanon is “deeply concerning”, Downing Street has said after the latest wave of attacks.

In a statement, a Number 10 spokesperson said the prime minister and the Government “continued to monitor the situation closely”.

“We are working with our international partners to urge calm and de-escalation at this critical time,” the spokesperson said.

07:28 PM BST

Watch: timelapse of explosions in Beirut

Smoke could be seen rising from at least nine locations along Beirut’s skyline as the city was rocked by a second day of exploding device attacks.

07:13 PM BST

In pictures: radio device explodes in apartment

A variety of devices exploded in today’s attack, ranging from walkie-talkies to home solar energy systems.

Pictured below is one of the radio devices that exploded in an apartment in the city of Baalbek, east Lebanon.

06:52 PM BST

Death toll rises to 14, says health ministry

The number of people killed in Wednesday’s attacks has risen to 14, the Lebanese health ministry said.

More than 450 people were injured, it added.

06:50 PM BST

Hezbollah told to accept ceasefire deal or risk all-out war

A senior Israeli official has warned Hezbollah it risks an all-out regional war if it does not accept the ceasefire deal proposed by the US.

“The one who can stop the escalation is Nasrallah if he announces that he is willing to accept the US framework,” the official told Ynet. “If not, we are willing to go all the way.”

Earlier we reported that Antony Blinken, the US secretary of state, warned that the attacks in Lebanon could “derail” attempts to secure a ceasefire (see 5.15pm post).

06:37 PM BST

Foreign Office ‘monitoring situation closely’

A Foreign Office Spokesperson said:

06:30 PM BST

Netanyahu vows to return displaced residents to the north

Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to return displaced Israelis to their homes in the north after the IDF said it was ready to carry out the “next two stages” of its war plan near its border with Lebanon.

“I have said it before, we will return to the citizens of the north to their homes in security and that’s exactly what we are going to do,” the Israeli prime minister said in a short statement - his first since the Lebanon attacks.

06:22 PM BST

Which areas were targeted by walkie-talkie blasts?

06:12 PM BST

IDF: we are ready for the next stage of war with Hezbollah

The IDF has said Hezbollah should be ready to pay a “high price” as Israel prepares to enter a new phase of war.

Herzl Halevi, the IDF’s chief of staff, said the “next two stages” of Israel’s war is plan is ready to move forward.

“We have achieved a lot, and we still have further forward to go. We still have many capabilities that we have not yet activated. We saw some of these things here, and it seems to me that the readiness is good and we are preparing these plans going forward,” Mr Halevi said.

“The rule is that every time we work on a certain stage, the next two stages are already ready to advance. At each stage, the price for Hezbollah must be high.”

One of the IDF’s primary goals is to allow evacuated residents to return to their homes in northern Israel, near the border with Lebanon.

06:07 PM BST

Germany stops sending weapons to Israel - report

Germany has stopped sending new weapons to Israel as it waits for the outcomes of legal challenges, the Reuters news agency has reported.

Germany approved arms exports to Israel worth 326.5 million euros ($363.5 million) last year, which has fallen to 14.5 million euros’ worth so far this year. Of this, the “weapons of war” accounted for just 32,449 euros.

A source told the news agency this was because the German government was waiting for the outcome on a series of legal cases which have looked into whether exports have breached humanitarian law.

Germany is the second biggest exporter to Israel after the United States.

Berlin has not commented on the report.

05:54 PM BST

Analysis: could Hamas be about to get what it always wanted?

Two messages have been conveyed to Hezbollah in the past 48 hours with a double wave of exploding pagers and walkie-talkies; Israel can hit the terror group whenever and wherever it wants.

And now Israel’s defence minister has said that a “new phase” of the war has begun in the north, bordering Lebanon.

We know that the army has already been preparing for a ground invasion, conducting exercises and deploying troops from Gaza to the Lebanon border.

But the warnings about military preparedness in the north - and explosions on the streets of Beirut - could merely be an effort to pressure Hezbollah into backing down from its daily rocket and drone attacks across the border.

However, Hezbollah says it will not stop attacking Israel until a ceasefire is reached in Gaza.

With no ceasefire in sight, there is a chance that Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar could be about to accomplish his goal: a regional war.

05:46 PM BST

UN security council to meet over attacks

The United Nations Security Council is expected to meet on Friday over the attacks which have rocked Hezbollah and Lebanon, according to Slovenia’s UN ambassador.

Antonio Guterres, the UN’s secretary-general, said earlier on Wednesday that the attacks risk a “dramatic escalation in Lebanon and everything must be done to avoid that escalation”.

05:19 PM BST

Gallant: Israel entering new phase of war

Israel is entering a new phase of war which involves a greater focus on the north near the border with Lebanon, the Israeli defence minister has said.

Addressing Israeli troops at the Ramat David airbase in northern Israel, Yoav Gallant said: “The center of gravity is shifting to the north, by diverting resources and forces [there]. We are at the onset of a new phase in the war, it requires courage, determination and perseverance from us.”

Israel is yet to comment on allegations that it is behind the exploding devices attacks which rocked Lebanon on Tuesday and Wednesday.

05:15 PM BST

Blinken: device attacks threaten to derail Gaza ceasefire talks

Surprise escalations in the Middle East could “derail” attempts to achieve a ceasefire in Gaza, Antony Blinken, the US secretary of state, has said.

Asked earlier on Wednesday about the initial wave of explosions, Mr Blinken said: “Time and again...we’ve seen an event that ... threatens to slow it, stop it, derail it.”

Washington believes the best way to prevent a wider regional war from breaking out in the Middle East is to achieve a ceasefire in Gaza.

But some senior Israeli figures have repeatedly called for the military’s focus to move away from Gaza and towards Hezbollah in Lebanon.

05:02 PM BST

Hezbollah: attacks will be uniquely punished

The head of Hezbollah’s executive council said the Lebanese terror group will confront Israel with a new approach after the explosions.

“We will confront the enemy with a new approach so that they know we are a people who will not retreat,” said Seyed Hashem Safiuddin, without providing details.

He added, “The resistance tells Netanyahu that we are present and our capabilities remain unharmed.”

He said the injured fighters would soon go back to the “battlefields.”

“These attacks will certainly be uniquely punished,” he warned. “Revenge is inevitable.”

04:55 PM BST

Nine dead and 300 injured, says health ministry

At least nine people were killed and 300 more injured by a second wave of device explosions in Lebanon, the country’s health ministry said.

04:51 PM BST

Pictured: firefighters assess blaze inside phone shop after explosion

04:46 PM BST

Hezbollah fires 20 rockets at Israel

The IDF said 20 rockets were fired from Lebanon at Kiryat Shmona around an hour ago.

Some of the rockets were intercepted, Israel’s military said. There were no reported injuries.

04:44 PM BST

Watch: car burns in Beirut after device blows up inside

04:40 PM BST

Beirut’s hospitals already at full capacity before new wave of explosions

Moments before the latest round of explosions in Lebanon we had been talking to Dr Saleh Zein-el-Dine, chief medical officer at the American University of Beirut Medical Center, writes Adrian Massie-Blomfield from Beirut. 

All 12 operating theatres in the hospital were running at full capacity, he said, with a large number of those injured in yesterday’s pager attacks still waiting to undergo surgery.

With 190 victims coming through the centre’s doors, 140 of whom were still receiving treatment, exhausted surgeons were working round the clock to clear the backlog.

Given the number of facial injuries, eye doctors and ENT specialists were particularly struggling to deal with the caseload.

Then came today’s attacks and the hospital is again on standby to receive a fresh batch of casualties. It is difficult to see how they will cope.

04:35 PM BST

Analysis: Israel’s intentions remain unclear

Yesterday thousands of Hezbollah’s pagers exploded with devastating results. Today it is the terrorist group’s walkie talkies that are detonating in the hands of its fighters.  

Iran’s largest and most prestigious terrorist proxy in the Middle East appears to have been well and truly compromised by Israel’s Mossad intelligence service.

Israel has a long history of extrajudicial assassinations dating back to the Munich Massacre of 1972 but never has it unleashed a series of strikes on this scale.

It remains unclear what its intentions are - is it a prelude to a full scale invasion of southern Lebanon or is it just another so-called “mowing of the lawn”?

And how might Hezbollah react?

How will it respond to what military analysts characterise as its “humiliation” and - in several cases - the literal “emasculation” of its fighters?

In Tehran, the terrorist group’s masters will almost certainly be demanding patience and restraint, or what the Ayatollah calls “heroic flexibility”.

Israel is already locked in a multifront war, a large part of its population remains displaced, its economy is tanking and in many parts of the world it has come to be regarded as a pariah state.

Will Iran and Hezbollah - already pariah’s - pursue all-out war, or will heroic flexibility prevail again?

We will have to wait and see.

04:28 PM BST

Home solar energy systems explode in Beirut - report

Home solar energy systems were among the devices that exploded in Beirut in the latest round of attacks, Lebanon’s official news agency reported.

04:25 PM BST

Devices explode inside cars and apartment buildings

04:20 PM BST

United Nations cars pelted with stones

Video footage showed members of the public in Lebanon throwing stones at UNIFIL cars in the streets.

The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon consists of 10,000 peacekeepers whose aim is to protect the south of the country, where the devices have been exploding.

04:17 PM BST

Exploding devices were ‘discontinued walkie-talkies’

The devices exploding across Beirut on Wednesday were discontinued Japan-made ‘amateur VFH transceivers’. They were manufactured in 2004. It is unclear when they were discontinued.

04:05 PM BST

In pictures: explosions across Lebanon

03:55 PM BST

At least three killed, hundreds wounded

Three people have been killed in the latest device blasts, Reuters reported, citing a Lebanese state news agency.

The deaths were reported from the Bekaa region, in the east of the country.

A security source said that hundreds had been wounded, many with injuries to the stomach and hands.

03:43 PM BST

Watch: Explosion at Hezbollah funeral

Footage showed an explosion taking place during a funeral procession, which was taking place for a person who was killed in Tuesday’s initial attack.

03:40 PM BST

Pictured: various devices exploded

Explosions have hit multiple devices, including walkie-talkies, a fingerprint security lock and a motorbike.

03:37 PM BST

‘Multiple cars alight and apartments on fire’ in Beirut

02:53 PM BST

Pictured: Hundreds line streets for funeral of 9-year-old killed in pager explosion

Hundreds of mourners attended the funeral for the youngest victim of the pager explosions, 9-year-old Fatima Abdullah.

Fatima was one of two children among the 12 killed by blasts across Lebanon and Syria on Tuesday in an attack blamed on Israel that targeted Hezbollah fighters.

“The enemy killed us using this small device!” the mourners chanted as they walked to the cemetery. “They killed our child Fatima!”

Zeinab Mousawi, Fatima’s aunt, told The New York Times that she had just returned home from her first day of fourth grade. Many of her school friends attended the funeral.

02:34 PM BST

Iranian president says Lebanon blasts should ‘shame’ Israel’s allies

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said on Wednesday that Western backers of Israel should feel “shame” after paging devices belonging to Lebanon’s Hezbollah exploded.

“Western countries and the Americans... fully support the crimes, killings and indiscriminate assassinations of the Zionist regime,” Mr Pezeshkian said in a statement, referring to Israel, adding that the explosions should bring them “shame”.

02:13 PM BST

15/18 paragraphs agreed in ceasefire deal - Blinken

Antony Blinken, the US secretary of state, said on Wednesday that Washington has made progress on a Gaza ceasefire deal over the past month and a half.

He said 15 paragraphs had been agreed out of 18 by Israel and Hamas, but remaining issues needed to be resolved.

One of those issues is the Philadelphi corridor, the strip of land along the Gaza-Egypt border.

Badr Abdelatty, Egypt’s Foreign Minister, said in a press conference with his US counterpart that Egypt will not accept any changes to pre-Oct 7 rules for security on its border with Gaza as well as the operation of the Rafah crossing from the Palestinian side.

01:58 PM BST

Anxiety, anger and defiance in Lebanon

There is a mood of anxiety, anger and defiance outside the American University of Beirut Medical Center where many have gathered to hear news of injured friends and relatives being treated inside for wounds sustained in yesterday’s pager attacks.

Because of their connections to Hezbollah, none would give their names, but one woman told me that her son-in-law was in the operating theatre after receiving injuries to his eyes and hands when his pager exploded.

She and her daughter had been trawling Beirut’s hospitals trying to find him and only tracked him down this morning.

Her two grandsons, aged six and ten, have been told what has happened. “It’s important they hear so they learn who their enemy is,” she said.

Another man is waiting for news on his neighbours, both in their twenties, who received injuries to their hips and hands when their pagers detonated in a streets in the Shia suburbs of southern Beirut. He insists that both men were civilians.

Young men milling around the hospital say they are waiting for a speech from Hassan Nasrallah, the Hezbollah leader, tomorrow to learn whether they will retaliate or not.

“If he says we go, we will go,” one says. “If he says we stay, we will stay.”

Nasrallah is due to make an address on the pager attacks at 3pm (UK time) tomorrow.

01:42 PM BST

Pictured: The remains of exploded pagers

01:33 PM BST

Israeli strike on school kills five, Gaza authorities say

An Israeli air strike on a school-turned-shelter in Gaza City killed at least five people, according to authorities in the Hamas-run Strip.

The Israeli military said the air force “conducted a precise strike on Hamas terrorists” in a compound that “previously served as the ‘Ibn Al-Haytam’ school in the area of Gaza City”.

It is the latest in a series of Israeli strikes on school buildings housing displaced Gazans.

On Saturday, five were reportedly killed in a strike on Gaza City’s Shuhada al-Zeitun School, which the military said was also used by Hamas militants.

01:22 PM BST

British-educated entrepreneur denies manufacturing explosive pagers

A British-educated entrepreneur has denied manufacturing the pagers that wounded hundreds of Hezbollah fighters on Tuesday afternoon in a simultaneous explosion.

The Taiwanese firm whose branding was on the devices said on Wednesday that they were manufactured in Hungary.

Gold Apollo said “the design and manufacturing of the products are solely the responsibility” of Budapest-based BAC Consulting KFT, which was authorised to use its brand as part of a three-year-old licensing agreement.

However, Cristiana Bársony-Arcidiacono, the CEO of BAC Consulting, said “I do not make the pagers. I am just the intermediary. I think you got it wrong” when reached on the phone by NBC News.

Read more here.

01:09 PM BST

Pager attacks show depth of Israel’s infiltration inside Hezbollah - analysis

Dr Imad El-Anis, an associate professor in international relations at Nottingham Trent University, said that Tuesday’s pager explosions “demonstrate that Israel’s ability to infiltrate Hezbollah runs deeply”.

Speaking to The Telegraph, he said that not only will the attacks hamper the militant group’s ability to communicate but also erode trust within their own inner circles. Hezbollah, he added, will be in “complete disbelief”.

Mr El-Anis said the move was unlikely to alter the balance on the battlefield or significantly weaken Hezbollah, but it is a “heavy signal and an incredibly bold move. It shows that they were trying to take out a lot of the top leadership.”

12:57 PM BST

Israel blew up pagers as sabotage ‘about to be exposed’

Israel reportedly brought forward the timing of the simultaneous explosion of thousands of Hezbollah pagers because the mass sabotage operation was about to be exposed.

It was a “use it or lose it moment,” a US official told Axios describing the reason Israel gave for the timing of the attack, which killed at least 12 and injured almost 3,000.

A former Israel official with knowledge of the operation said the booby-trapped pagers were intended to be used as a surprise opening move in an all-out war with the Iran-backed militia group.

However, in recent days Israeli leaders and its intelligence agencies became concerned Hezbollah had discovered the plot, according to a US official, and decided to pull the trigger on Tuesday.

Washington has claimed it was not given prior warning. “We were not aware of this operation and were not involved,” Matthew Miller, a spokesman for the state department said on Tuesday.

12:56 PM BST

Lebanon attack ‘hindering ceasefire agreement’

The pager attacks in Lebanon have hindered any progress that was being made towards securing a ceasefire agreement in the Middle East, Egypt’s foreign minister has said.

“[Hamas] is highlighting their commitment with the agreement,” Badr Abdelatty said.

“Hamas is committed with what has been agreed upon in these two documents - the 27 May and 2 July. They have agreed with these points.

“What has happened in Lebanon is hindering a ceasefire agreement.”

12:38 PM BST

Blinken denies prior US knowledge of pager attack

Antony Blinken, the US secretary of state, has denied any US knowledge of Tuesday’s pager attacks across Lebanon and Syria.

“We are still gathering the information and gathering the facts,” Mr Blinken said at a press conference in Cairo alongside Badr Abdelatty, his Egyptian counterpart.

Mr Blinken added that Washington has been “very clear about the importance of all parties avoiding any steps that could further escalate the conflict that we’re trying to resolve in Gaza”.

“It is imperative all parties refrain from any actions that could escalate the conflict,” he added.

12:15 PM BST

EU top diplomat Borrell condemns Lebanon pager ‘attacks’

The European Union’s foreign policy chief has condemned explosions of Hezbollah’s pagers but did not name Israel in its statement.

“Even if the attacks seem to have been targeted, they had heavy, indiscriminate collateral damages among civilians, including children among the victims,” Josep Borrell said.

“I consider this situation extremely worrying. I can only condemn these attacks that endanger the security and stability of Lebanon, and increase the risk of escalation in the region.

“The European Union calls on all stakeholders to avert an all-out war, which would have heavy consequences for the entire region and beyond.”

12:04 PM BST

Two children among 12 dead in Lebanon pager explosions

Exploding pagers claimed the lives of 12 people in Lebanon, including two children, Lebanon’s health minister said Wednesday, updating the toll a day after the blasts blamed on Israel.

At least 300 are in critical condition, the minister said.

12:00 PM BST

Pictured: First female Israeli soldier killed in Gaza

Agam Naim, a 20-year-old paramedic is first female soldier to be killed in combat in the Gaza Strip since the start of the war, the IDF announced on Wednesday.

Ms Naim, who served in the 401^st Armored Brigade, was killed with three other troops by an explosive device near in Tel al-Sultan in Gaza’s south.

11:30 AM BST

‘He got a message, looked and it blew up in his eyes’

A witness described the moment his friend’s pager blew up in his face, wounding his eyes, face and hands during the widescale detonations in Lebanon on Tuesday.

Outside the American University of Beirut Hospital, he told CNN: “He got a message, looked at it and it blew up in his eyes and fingers. Many of the injuries are similar.”

11:16 AM BST

Dispatch: Inside the homes Israel wants back as it prepares for war in Lebanon

Dishes are still on the kitchen table and the fridge has a few jars on the shelves. The stairway up to the first floor is full of broken glass, and what used to be the bedroom is in ruins.

The bedroom’s glass door lies in the middle of the room. There’s dust everywhere but above us blue skies where the roof used to be.

Luckily, the old couple that lived here had already been evacuated from their home in Kibbutz Hanita when it took a direct hit from a rocket fired by Hezbollah.

But their son, Erez, stayed behind and has been protecting the kibbutz since Hezbollah began launching daily anti-tank missiles, rockets and drones in support of Hamas. More than 9,000 such attacks have been detected since Oct 8 last year.

“Most of the families with children left the same day. A week later, the whole kibbutz was evacuated,” Erez told The Telegraph during a visit (Erez’s last name could not be disclosed for security reasons).

Read the full story here.

11:07 AM BST

Kremlin says pager attack tried to ‘provoke a major war’

Russia says it strongly condemns the deadly pager attack, saying it was an act intended to “provoke a major war in the Middle East”.

“We regard what happened as yet another act of hybrid warfare against Lebanon, which has harmed thousands of innocent people,” Maria Zakharova, a spokesman for the foreign ministry, said.

“It appears that the organisers of this high-tech attack deliberately sought to foment a large-scale armed confrontation in order to provoke a major war in the Middle East.”

Moscow had earlier called for a thorough investigation to identify the perpetrators.

10:55 AM BST

Former Mossad chief says pager blasts ‘shocked’ Hezbollah

Danny Yatom, the former head of Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency, told The Telegraph that the pager explosions would have “shocked” Hezbollah.

“I assume they didn’t take into consideration such a possibility. It’s a very creative idea,” Mr Yatom said.

“The organisation that is behind this showed a very high level of sophisticated technology, very accurate intelligence and high level of professionalism in the operational array,” he added.

Mr Yatom pointed out that cellphones have killed terrorists in the past: “But I don’t remember such a volume or anything similar”, adding that those behind the attack would have had “put their hands” on the devices before arriving in Lebanon.

The former Mossad chief emphasised that the pager blasts will have a significant effect on Hezbollah’s operational capacity.

“That should worry Hezbollah and its leader Hassan Nasrallah. The main problem for Hezbollah is not a different communication system but how many terrorists are injured.”

10:43 AM BST

Israel sends elite forces to Lebanon border

The IDF has decided to deploy the elite 98th Division from Gaza to its northern border with Lebanon as Israel prepares for a possible escalation from Hezbollah.

The IDF already redeployed a significant number of troops from Gaza to the northern border in recent months as tensions with the Lebanese militia have increased.

10:29 AM BST

Iran sends ‘rescue teams, eye surgeons’ to Lebanon

The Iranian Red Crescent says it has dispatched “rescue teams and eye surgeons” to Lebanon to treat the almost 3,000 who were injured by the widescale detonation of pagers on Tuesday.

Among those wounded was Iran’s ambassador to Lebanon, Mojtaba Amani. Iranian officials told The New York Times that his injuries were more serious than initially reported. He is believed to have lost one eye, while his second was severely injured.

10:20 AM BST

Egypt reaffirms support for Lebanon after pager blasts

Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, Egypt’s president, told Antony Blinken that Cairo supports Lebanon following the pager blasts and rejects any attempts at escalation in the region.

“The President affirmed Egypt’s rejection of attempts to escalate the conflict and expand its scope regionally, pointing out the need for all parties to act responsibly, and reaffirming Egypt’s support for Lebanon”, the president’s office said.

Mr Blinken, US secretary of state, is visiting Egypt hoping to advance efforts to achieve a ceasefire in Gaza and strengthen ties with Cairo.

09:59 AM BST

Watch: Israel carries out airstrikes in Lebanon

The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) confirmed carrying out airstrikes on suspected Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon’s Majdal Selm on Tuesday.

It claimed to have killed several militants in the strikes.

Overnight, fighter jets also struck buildings allegedly used by Hezbollah in southern Lebanon’s Odaisseh, Markaba, Blida, Maroun al-Ras, and Chihine.

09:49 AM BST

Russia: Pager explosion ‘requires investigation’

The mass detonation of pagers in Lebanon “requires an investigation and international attention” to the topic, Maria Zakharova, Russia’s foreign ministry spokesman said in a post on Telegram.

09:39 AM BST

Pictured: Blinken arrives in Egypt

09:32 AM BST

Inside Israel’s history of inventive assassination methods

Israel has a long history of inventive, unusual assassination methods, and reports that at least nine people have been killed by exploding pagers could be its latest grim chapter.

As of Tuesday night, Israel had not claimed responsibility for the attack – but it bears many of the hallmarks of its special forces units, such as Mossad.

Formed in 1949, the year after the birth of the state of Israel, Mossad has been linked to many of Israel’s most daring killings.

Over seven decades, it is thought to have relied on exploding books, remote-controlled machine guns and even poisoned toothpaste to reach its targets, with mixed results.

Read the full story here.

09:22 AM BST

Scale of the mass attack

09:13 AM BST

Iran accuses Israel of ‘mass murder’

Iran has accused Israel of “mass murder” after thousands of pagers belonging to Hezbollah fighters exploded, killing at least 12 and wounding nearly 3,000.

The widespread attack across Lebanon and Syria on Tuesday is believed to have been caused by the simultaneous detonation of hidden explosives planted in the devices used by the Iran-backed group.

Tehran “condemned the terrorist act of the Zionist regime... as an example of mass murder”, Nasser Kanani, a spokesman for the foreign ministry, said on Wednesday.

08:54 AM BST

Airlines suspend flights as Middle East tensions rise

• Ryanair cancelled flights to and from Tel Aviv until Oct 26, citing ‘operational restrictions’

• Air France said it was suspending services to Beirut and Tel Aviv up to and including Sept 19

• KLM cancelled all flights to and from Tel Aviv until Oct 26

• EasyJet stopped flying to and from Tel Aviv in April and will resume flights on March 30, 2025

• Air India suspended scheduled flights to and from Tel Aviv until further notice

• Cathay Pacific cancelled all flights to Tel Aviv until March 27, 2025

• Delta Air Lines paused flights between New York and Tel Aviv through Oct 31

• Lufthansa said it was suspending all connections to and from Tel Aviv and Tehran up to and on Sept 19

• United Airlines suspended flights to Tel Aviv for the foreseeable future due to security reasons

08:41 AM BST

Hezbollah thought older devices would keep them safe

Hezbollah’s pagers were meant to be safety measures, secure from Israeli eavesdropping, writes Roland Oliphant.

Instead, they were a deadly Trojan horse.

After suffering a series of assassinations of top operatives during months of low-level war with Israel, this summer Hezbollah ordered its fighters to ditch their mobile phones. They were too easy to track and too readily compromised by Israel’s fearsome military hackers.

“If you’re looking for an Israeli agent, look at the phone in your hand,” Hassan Nasrallah, Hezbollah’s chief, warned his men.

Read more: Hezbollah’s terrible blunder that ended with audacious pager attack

08:03 AM BST

Hezbollah’s exploding pagers ‘made in Hungary’

Thousands of pagers used by Hezbollah that exploded across Lebanon and Syria on Tuesday were reportedly manufactured in Hungary.

At least 11 people were killed and some 2,800 injured by a simultaneous detonation that the Lebanese militant group immediately blamed on Israel.

Taiwanese company Gold Apollo, whose branding was seen on the affected pagers, has denied the devices belonged to them, instead claiming they were made by Budapest-based BAC Consulting KFT.

BAC were authorised to use Gold Apollo’s trademark in some regions, Hsu Ching-Kuang, founder of the company said on Wednesday. “That product isn’t ours. They just stick on our company brand”.

07:38 AM BST

Hezbollah vows to avenge pager attack

Lebanon’s Hezbollah said Wednesday it “will continue, as in all the past days, its blessed operations to support Gaza”, after a deadly wave of exploding pagers the Iran-backed militant group blamed on Israel.

“This path is ongoing and separate from the difficult reckoning that the criminal enemy must await for its massacre on Tuesday,” the group said in a statement issued on Telegram.

07:14 AM BST

Hezbollah chief to give speech on Thursday

Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah will give a speech on Thursday, the group said in a statement on Wednesday, following pager detonations.

07:03 AM BST

UN to demand Israel end ‘unlawful’ presence in Palestinian territories

The UN General Assembly will on Wednesday adopt a Palestinian-drafted resolution that demands Israel end “its unlawful presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory” within 12 months.

The action will isolate Israel days before world leaders travel to New York for their annual UN gathering.

The draft resolution aims to welcome a July advisory opinion by the International Court of Justice that said Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territories and settlements is illegal and should be withdrawn.

06:39 AM BST

Hezbollah vows to continue ‘operations to support Gaza’

Lebanon’s Hezbollah said on Wednesday it “will continue, as in all the past days, its blessed operations to support Gaza”, following the pager attack.

“This path is ongoing and separate from the difficult reckoning that the criminal enemy must await for its massacre on Tuesday,” the group said in a statement on Telegram.

06:34 AM BST

Four soldiers killed in southern Gaza

Four soldiers have been killed in combat in southern Gaza, the Israeli military said on Wednesday.

A female paramedic was among those killed, the military said, adding that six soldiers were also wounded, three of them critically.

The latest fatalities bring the military’s losses in the Gaza war to 348 since the start of the ground offensive.

06:22 AM BST

Pager blasts detected in several Lebanon and Syria locations

05:51 AM BST

Blinken to discuss Gaza ceasefire in Egypt

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken hopes to advance efforts to achieve a ceasefire deal in Gaza as well as strengthen bilateral ties with Cairo when he visits Egypt on Wednesday.

Speaking at a regular briefing, State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said it was too early to say whether the incident in Lebanon would affect Gaza ceasefire talks, but the US believed diplomacy was the way to reduce tensions.

In Mr Blinken’s meetings with Egyptian officials, “squarely on the agenda is how we get a proposal that we think would secure agreement from both parties” to an Israel-Hamas ceasefire, Mr Miller said.

“There are some issues that we need to engage with the government of Egypt on as it relates to this ceasefire proposal that we are trying to bring to fruition,” he said.

05:13 AM BST

Gold Apollo denies making pagers used in attack

Taiwan’s Gold Apollo has denied reports that it made the pagers that were used in the detonations in Lebanon on Tuesday.

Images of destroyed pagers showed a format and stickers on the back that were consistent with pagers made by Gold Apollo.

But the company’s founder, Hsu Ching-Kuang, told reporters on Wednesday that the pagers used in the explosion were made by a company in Europe that had the right to use the Taiwanese firm’s brand.

“The product was not ours. It was only that it had our brand on it,” he said.

Mr Hsu did not name the company which he said manufactured the pagers, adding Gold Apollo was also a victim of the incident.

“We are a responsible company. This is very embarrassing.”

05:07 AM BST

Sources: Israel planted explosives in pagers

Israel’s Mossad spy agency planted a small amount of explosives inside 5,000 pagers ordered by Hezbollah months before Tuesday’s detonations, sources say.

The plot appears to have been many months in the making, several sources told Reuters.

Hezbollah fighters have been using pagers as a low-tech means of communication in an attempt to evade Israeli location-tracking.

But a senior Lebanese source said the devices had been modified by Israel’s spy service “at the production level”.

“The Mossad injected a board inside of the device that has explosive material that receives a code. It’s very hard to detect it through any means. Even with any device or scanner,” the source said.

05:03 AM BST

Welcome to our live coverage

We are bringing you the latest out of the Middle East, where Hezbollah has accused Israel of being behind a wave of exploding pagers that killed at least nine and injured thousands.